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When the FBI raided Blanding, UT this summer to seize a trove of Indian artifacts collected by local residents, it set off a chain of events of mythic proportion. Indeed, the sting operation that uncovered the black market for stolen antiquities was called “Cerberus Action” after the multi-headed dog in Greek Mythology that stood guard over the underworld, according to Helen O’neill of the Associated Press.

The raid pit ancient traditions against cultural norms, best friends against each other, the local law against federal, grave robbers against legitimate antiquities traders. It resulted in deaths, and ruined lives, lost fortunes and sacred relics reclaimed.

O’neill takes a thoughtful, thorough look at all sides in this drama, which is still unfolding.

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Arizona’s aging government computer systems are making life miserable for the legions of newly unemployed. Chad Graham of the Arizona Republic reports on a series of missteps that has left the Department of Economic Security unable to handle claims for tens of thousands of unemployed workers at the height of the country’s worst recession in recent memory. Before the recession, the department typically processed about 30,000 claims a week. Now it handles nearly 150,000, Graham reports. And not well. Long waits and errors are so common that many Arizonans are being pushed to the brink of financial desperation and collapse by the very department that is supposed to prevent it.